Sockeye Harvest Drops to just 53-Thousand on Wednesday

Commercial fishermen in Bristol Bay hauled in another 53-thousand sockeye on Wednesday to push the season total to above 15.5-million fish.

The District leading all others in harvest this season is the Naknek-Kvichak District where fishermen hauled in another 24-thosuand sockeye on Wednesday to push the total to over 4.99-million fish. The harvest in the Ugashik District was 6-thousand sockeye to push the total to over 2.16-million fish. 6-thousand sockeye were taken from the Egegik District Wednesday and the season total is over 4.82-million. Just 3-thousand sockeye were taken in the Nushagak District and the season total is over 3.21-million fish. Another 14-thousand sockeye were taken in the Togiak District on Wednesday to push the total to over 307.6-thousand fish.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game confirms that on average there 122 sockeye per drift delivery Wednesday in the Ugashik District and the number was 101 in the Egegik District. The delivery number was 186 in the Naknek-Kvichak District and just 66 in the Nushagak District. In the Togiak District on Wednesday there were on average 109 sockeye per drift delivery.

The counting towers on the Egegik, Kvichak, Naknek and Wood Rivers have all been pulled as all of those rivers have met their escapement goals. Another 16.2-thousand sockeye were counted as escapement to the Ugashik River on Wednesday to push the total to over 807.2-thousand fish. Another 3.4-thousand sockeye were counted as escapement to the Igushik River on Wednesday and the total is over 382.7-thousand. Nushagak River sockeye escapement was counted at 1.3-thousand sockeye on Wednesday to push the total to over 889.7-thousand. Escapement to both the Igushik and Nushagak Rivers has exceeded the upper end of the escapement goals. Sockeye escapement to the Togiak River was counted at 3.2-thousand fish on Wednesday and the season total is just over 54-thousand. That’s still well short of the escapement goal of 150-thousand sockeye.

The total run to Bristol Bay through Wednesday has been counted at over 22.94-million sockeye. The daily run summary can be found on the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Bristol Bay website and the summaries are also posted at the Fish and Game offices in Dillingham and King Salmon.